


Without Previous Choreography

by Nympha_Alba



Category: Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-13
Updated: 2011-07-13
Packaged: 2017-10-21 08:37:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nympha_Alba/pseuds/Nympha_Alba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even off screen Colin is like Merlin to their knights.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without Previous Choreography

**Author's Note:**

> Birthday ficlet for Prplhez8.  
> Thanks to Sabriel75 for the beta!

_Question: - Bradley, after three seasons, how good are you at broadsword?_

_BJ: - I’m really good when someone tells me what they’re going to do and what moves they’re going to do because I can make it look like I didn’t know what they were going to do and then block those moves and kill them. If someone was to attack me without any previous choreography I don’t know. It’d be interesting to see what I would do. But it wouldn’t be interesting to me. It’d be bloody scary._ *

*

 

Either reality mirrors fiction, or the casting people did a more profound job than they may have realised. Rupert, Tom, Eoin, Santiago… Christ, they're a bunch, and Bradley loves them all. All of his knights. Sometimes it's like they're small boys at a particularly nice summer camp. And they all love Colin, because you just do whether you want to or not, but none of them really understand him. Even off screen Colin is like Merlin to their knights. He's always slightly to the side of the group even though he indisputedly belongs; he's someone who both watches and makes things happen, and even if the Prince and the knights may think the kingdom is theirs, something about Merlin suggests that he secretly rules both the kingdom and themselves.

It’s that combination of shyness, quirkiness and brilliance, Bradley thinks, that gives Colin his real-life magic.

Bradley looks at them now from behind his aviators, looks at his knights and his warlock and drinks from his water bottle to hide his face and not have to talk. They're sprawling in the grass. Santiago is in the shade with his back against the wall, smiling gently at something Tom just said, Ade and Rupert are whooping and Eoin is falling on his back with a big laugh that makes the fans very busy with their cameras. And then there's Colin, sitting on a low wall nearby, part of the group and still not, set apart by his costume as well as his quietness. He has the script in his lap like a studious schoolboy, but his dimples are making an appearance.

Bradley's fingers squeeze the water bottle so hard the plastic clicks. It's been years and every little detail about Colin still _gets_ to him. It's not that Colin is mysterious, exactly, but he's so private that Bradley wants to lock the two of them in a room together and pry until everything is revealed. Nothing but Colin and Bradley. Bared souls and naked -

The bottle cracks; Bradley swears between his teeth.

Now Colin is laughing too; his eyes disappear in crinkles. The look on his face pierces Bradley like no sword ever could, right through the chainmail. He's very good at blocking moves when he knows they're coming, but he still has no idea how to defend himself from _this_. He never felt like this before, not about anyone. With Colin it's all surprise and ad libbing, no scripts and no previous choreography, and Bradley was right in that interview. It _is_ bloody scary.

Luckily, Bradley loves a challenge. He asks for a new bottle of water and sits down on the wall next to Colin, who turns his head and smiles with the sun in his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> *From the SYFY conference call Q&A with Colin and Bradley in December 2010.


End file.
